What Franklin Graham Just Called For To Stop Domestic Terror Threat Will Infuriate Obama

It’s one of the more popular recent posts on the official Facebook page of Rev. Franklin Graham — the evangelist’s call to “stop all immigration of Muslims to the U.S.” until the threat from radical Islam can be “settled.” As of this writing, Graham’s proposal that he indicated was sparked by his belief that America is “under attack by Muslims at home and abroad” has received more than 167,000 “likes” and been shared close to 58,000 times.

The website Christian Post notes that the Muslim immigration ban called for by the head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has been condemned by several Christian leaders.

The article cites their “concern that the minister is distorting the message of Christianity and promoting fear of those who follow Islam….” Graham posted his recommendation to stop all Muslim immigration the day after a suspected Islamic terrorist gunned down four U.S. Marines in Chattanooga, where a fifth shooting victim later died.

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Below, you can see for yourself the entire anti-immigration post by Franklin Graham in which the evangelist with more than 2 million Facebook followers warns: “Every Muslim that comes into this country has the potential to be radicalized.”

Image Credit: Facebook/Franklin Graham

ABC News has reported that the 24-year-old gunman in the Chattanooga attacks was apparently radicalized only in recent weeks or months, having done “online research for militant Islamist ‘guidance’ on committing violence that he may have believed would wipe away in the afterlife his sins on earth including drug and alcohol abuse….”

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Many of the comments left on Graham’s Facebook page in reaction to his call for a ban on Muslim immigration have been highly negative and extremely critical of the evangelist. A small sampling of the online criticism appears below:

NO, NO, NO…..you are not under attack from Muslims……..these men were attacked by a sick extremest. Stop your hatred!!!

What part of your Bible influences your bigotry? Shame on you.

Alienating people is not generally considered an effective ministry tactic.

As for Muslim immigration to the United States in recent years, an article published by National Review claims that “the United States seems increasingly to be turning toward Western Europe’s most undesirable demographic trends” when it comes to people of the Muslim faith moving to America.

In 1992, 41 percent of new permanent residents in the United States — green-card holders — hailed from the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East and North Africa, or sub-Saharan Africa, according to the Pew Research Center. A decade later, the percentage was 53 percent. Over that same period, predictably, the number of Muslim immigrants coming to the United States annually has doubled, from 50,000 to approximately 100,000 each year. In 1992, only 5 percent of Muslim immigrants came from sub-Saharan Africa; 20 years later, it was 16 percent. Of the 2.75 million Muslims in the United States in 2011, 1.7 million were legal permanent residents.

The National Review article notes that the Council on American-Islamic Relations says there are some 7 million Muslims now living in this country.

CNS News cites a study by the Center for Immigration Studies that points to the very large increase in Muslim immigration — something that President Obama has hailed in recognition of the “contributions” of Muslim immigrants to the building of America.

“According to numbers crunched by the Center for Immigration Studies based on data from the Census Bureau’s Factfinder database,” reports CNS News, “the immigrant population from predominantly Muslim countries has grown from 1.7 million in 2000 to 2.7 million in 2013.”

What’s your opinion? Was Franklin Graham right to call for a total ban on Muslim immigration in light of the terror threat from radical Islam? Join the conversation by leaving your comment below.